Have a shamrocking day!

FTD = Fail to Deliver

How's that saying go...No good deed goes unpunished? Ah yes, that is it.

Last week Groupon was offering what seemed like a great deal - $20 for $40 at FTD.com. Although I could care less about receiving flowers on Valentine's Day I thought it would be a nice gesture to send The Soldier's girlfriend an arrangement since he's away at boot camp.

I should have seen the writing on the wall last week when I tried to place the order but I didn't. I went through all the steps to have my order delivered yesterday only to find that you HAD to go through the Groupon link in order to use the code they provided. Once I did that all my information was lost AND even worse all the prices were a bit higher.

Um, what?!

Read the details...cannot combine promotions, etc. Okay so I can't get the sale price because of the Groupon. Kinda seems like I didn't need it to begin with but I continue with the order. I re-enter all my information. Hit submit and received a confirmation.

I didn't give it another thought until yesterday evening. I was expecting the gf to be gushing about what a wonderful surprise she received from The Soldier. When that didn't happen I sent her a text. What delivery? she says.

What delivery indeed. The short version is that they were never delivered. FTD failed to deliver. And calling them was a complete, utter nightmare. It's apparent that the call center is based somewhere other than the US. After having to repeat myself numerous times to their so-called customer service rep, all I got was "Sorry. We will deliver tomorrow."

Yes but tomorrow isn't Valentine's Day. Duh.

I was on the phone for over an hour last night & another 45 minutes today (mostly spent on hold) to find out nothing. Also evident from what I was told both times is that these reps read from a script. They have no desire to really help the customers they speak with.

Somewhere along the way I asked for the local florists number and finally got this issue resolved. Not only did the florist give me a refund but they still sent the arrangement to The Soldier's girlfriend. (She just texted to say she got them!)

It's disappointing that a large establishment like FTD.com doesn't care enough about their customers to fulfill their end of a transaction and when a problem occurs, they do not care enough correct it.

On a brighter note when I called Groupon to express my frustrations my call was immediately answered by a nice man in Chicago. He didn't handle me like a number, but conversed with me like a customer. He may have said the same apologies as FTD but sometimes it's more about the delivery than the words.

Literally.

Nothing Says Lovin' like Something from the Oven

Especially when you share!

















*Click on the recipe to enlarge & print.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

I worked on a few more things yesterday evening. Here's what I've made so far:

Eggnog Bread
Preacher Cookies
Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies
Sour Cream Pound Cake
Peanut Butter Balls
Snowball Cookies
Sausage Balls
Reindeer Noses

I still need to make:

Mexican Pinwheels (not a cookie)
Potato Chip cookies (I'm still looking for a good recipe so they are on the back burner for now.)
Fudge
Peanut Butter Balls (My first batch won't be enough to last through Christmas)

Featured today is my Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe. I don't remember where I got this recipe but I've been making it for the last 11 years.

Here's what you need:



1 cup butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
3 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.



Mix baking soda and vanilla with sour cream; add alternately with flour and mix well.



Pour into a greased & floured 10" tube pan. (I used 4 mini loaf pans plus one regular loaf pan.)



Bake @ 325 for 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar if desired.



If you are interested in any of the other recipes that I don't have a link for just let me know!

Sorry for the late post but I had a small scare last night. I woke up around 5 because my heart felt like it was literally beating out of my chest...it was very quick and erratic. I got up, moved around and thought it would go away. It didn't subside until after 7:30 this morning so I thought it was best to go to the doctor this morning. She said my EKG looks good and if it happens again she will monitor it with one of those 24 hours devices.

For those wondering, I didn't go to the emergency room because I didn't have any other issues. No pain, no shortness of breath or nausea. Just the erratic heartbeat. So I'm okay now and I just hope it was a fluke. I am prone to weird ailments so hopefully I can add this to that list.

Snowball Cookies

Saturday I didn't do anything but lay on the couch taking numerous naps throughout the day. To make up for it, I had a bake-a-thon yesterday.

Here's what I made:

Eggnog Bread
Preacher Cookies
Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies
Sour Cream Pound Cake
Peanut Butter Balls
Snowball Cookies

I still need to make:

Mexican Pinwheels (not a cookie)
Sausage Balls (obviously not a cookie)
Potato Chip cookies (You convinced me to try these!)
Fudge
more Peanut Butter Balls (My first batch won't be enough to last through Christmas)
And anything else that I come across between now and Wednesday.

Today I'm sharing my Snowball Cookie recipe.

Here's what you need:



1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups (12 oz pkg) semi-sweet chocolate mini chips
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
Extra powdered sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375.

Beat butter, vanilla extract and salt in a large bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour.



Stir in the chips and nuts. (Batter will be stiff.)



Shape tablespoons of dough into 1 1/4" balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set and lightly browned.



Remove from oven. Sift powdered sugar over hot cookies on baking sheets. Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.



This recipe is supposed to make 60 cookies but I think I made mine a little bigger so it wasn't quite that many. Snowballs have a shortbread texture, with the added bonus of chocolate and walnuts. They are one of my favorite holiday cookies.

Still on holiday mode...

I've been on what I call "Holiday Mode" since Wednesday evening, as if you couldn't tell from my lack of blogging.

Wednesday night I cooked my bootie off and made as many dishes as I could ahead of time - a pumpkin pie, 2 apple cider cakes, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and then I chopped everything else I would need for the next day.

Amazingly enough I was finished with all this in time to sit down and watch a movie with S and when that went off I went to CVS. At midnight. I know it sounds crazy but I wasn't the only nut job there. (I will elaborate more in a later post.)

The next morning I got up bright and early stuck my turkey & ham in the oven and then went to another CVS in order to find a few things they were out of the night before. Everything went really smooth and we ended up eating dinner at 1PM just as I planned.



After dinner here we went to my Dad's but since I was still stuffed, I only ate a dessert. Or two. Or maybe I lost count. But hey it's a holiday right?!

With everything going on I totally forgot to bring my camera with me. I managed to get two pictures. One of the food, and one of the real turkeys in my life.



Friday morning we hit the door running at 5AM and shopped till we dropped. Literally. We ended up taking a long ass nap when we got home and eating leftovers for dinner.

I'm on vacation today and tomorrow; which really just means I'm at home doing what I do at work -reading blogs, twittering, and slacking off. Only difference is that I have to make my own breakfast.

Oh you didn't know? My Stepmom usually makes us breakfast at work. It's one helluva perk.

Let's Talk Turkey

I roasted my very first turkey 2 years ago. I researched the perfect instructions for hours on end until I found Alton Brown.

Man. I love me some Alton Brown. That kid is like the MacGyver of the food world. He can do anything.

Anyway, I followed his instructions to the letter both years and ended up with the most succulent turkey I'd ever tasted. It was browned just right, moist inside and an overall easy process for a newbie like me.

But I've fudged this year.

I bought my turkey from Kroger over 3 weeks ago when they were on sale not realizing what I was getting. Yes, it's a turkey but can you tell what's wrong?



It's buttered. That means I will not be putting it into a brine. I couldn't possibly stick a buttered turkey in a container of brine right?

I feel abandoned and lost. I pray that my buttered turkey turns out equally as good because if it doesn't I will be in serious trouble.

With the impending holidays on our heels, this is the first of many posts regarding food that you will see from me.

I heart food. I heart eating food. I heart making (most) foods. So of course I heart talking about food. And forgive me but isn't that what the holidays are all about?

If you ♥ holiday food like I do, join me and my fellow twitters from Mommy Gossip - GNO while we talk....what else - FOOD! RSVP here and then follow the others to join in on the fun!